The night was cold, Gotham's alleys dripping with rainwater and filth. At just six years old, Itachi's small frame moved silently, sharper than any child should be. Hunger had driven him out tonight, scavenging through the half-empty dumpsters behind a rundown convenience store.
But Gotham never let scavengers go unchallenged.
"Well, look at that. A little rat crawling where he doesn't belong."The voice was low, harsh, followed by two more. Men stepped out of the shadows, reeking of cheap alcohol and blood. Knives gleamed in the dim light.
Itachi's eyes narrowed. Sharingan flickered crimson, two tomoe spinning lazily in each eye. His pulse quickened, his body screaming with instinct. Shinobi knowledge whispered into him — movements, angles, counters. He was only a child in this life, but his soul carried the instincts of Uchiha Itachi.
One of the men lunged. Too slow.
Itachi's body slipped to the side with fluid grace, his hand already flicking a stolen kunai. The blade buried itself in the man's throat, silencing him in a choking gasp. The second charged, and fire roared in Itachi's chest.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
The fireball burst from his lips, a sphere of blazing heat that consumed the second man. Screams filled the alley as the flames engulfed him, his silhouette thrashing against the burning wall.
The last man froze, staring at the crimson-eyed child standing over his dying friends.
"D-demon…" he whispered. He turned to run—
Itachi moved like shadow. A kick to the back of the knee dropped the man, and the kunai finished the job with a swift slice across his throat.
And then—silence.
The rain hissed against the smoldering corpse. The alley stank of blood and smoke. Itachi stood there, kunai trembling in his small hand. He looked down at what he'd done, and the weight of it crushed him.
His first kill. Three lives taken. Blood soaking into Gotham's rotten streets.
He dropped the weapon, hands shaking. His chest tightened, his throat burning not from fire jutsu but from the tears he couldn't hold back.
I… killed them. I killed them.
But even through the storm of guilt and fear, something deep within him shifted. His vision sharpened. The crimson of his eyes deepened, spinning faster—until a third tomoe bloomed in each Sharingan.
And then, the voice of the system echoed.
[Milestone Achieved: First Kill.][Template Synchronization increased: 10%.][Abilities Unlocked: Uchiha Swordsmanship (Genin level). Foundational Genjutsu Knowledge acquired.]
The rush was intoxicating. New instincts filled his body: the feel of a blade in his hands, the subtle twist of chakra to weave illusions, the perfect form of the Uchiha kenjutsu stances. Power coursed through him.
But it didn't erase the blood on his hands.
Itachi fell to his knees, rain washing over his pale face as crimson eyes glowed in the dark. For the first time in this second life, he understood Gotham's cruel lesson.
Power had a price.
And in this city, he would be forced to pay it again and again.